The Skunk Ape....a down south Yeti.

[Crank]

Originally Posted by CREEPINKING

I had high hopes after using the wraith and XR unis on a few builds but these are nowhere near the level of those. I was gonna try my best to make them work just to avoid going with one of the heavier beef setups.

SteveC6R has broken 3 or 4 sets of the uni's now hasn't he? I'll be paying attention to see how the Dlux setup works for him.

Yep, Steve has had them break at both ends, I have only turned them into U's so far, but I know after straitening them it wont be long until they break.
I'm gonna let Steve be the Guinea Pig on the Dlux setup before I buy them, but they look super tough.
I hope VP has some in the works too, I have had great luck with their axles.
It seems like as long as they are they need to be made of some type of spring steel so they will flex, but not distort.

[CREEPINKING]

Originally Posted by Crank

Yep, Steve has had them break at both ends, I have only turned them into U's so far, but I know after straitening them it wont be long until they break.
I'm gonna let Steve be the Guinea Pig on the Dlux setup before I buy them, but they look super tough.
I hope VP has some in the works too, I have had great luck with their axles.
It seems like as long as they are they need to be made of some type of spring steel so they will flex, but not distort.

I agree, VP axles would be the ticket. I'm gonna hang onto the axial locker once I swap just in case. Love the wrap you did on your yeti btw.


I'm a wheel/tire whore so I thought the Yeti needed some more shoes. Something to swap out for some high speed work. The pitbulls are great but felt a tad bit mushy at speed. Even when swapping in some DW foams.

Went with some two-faces with DW tall foams and of course, another set of Gear Heads.













This setup should work pretty good on the yeti. They damn sure look the part.

Still waiting for my BMRC setup to ship. He's usually pretty quick with it, but maybe he's backed up or something. Also waiting on a couple parts to come in so I can hopefully get the shocks where I like them.

[Rockwolf]

Yeah hard to argue, those tires do indeed look the part! What shocks are you going with? I have read quite a few negative opinions of the axial stock shocks, personally in my rather limited abuse of them they seemed up to the task. but all I know about shocks would easily fit inside a thimble leaving room for a sip of Wild Turkey!

Any word on the BMRC axles? I finally got enuff cash to order some and it says not available or out of stock or some such....grumble grumble....

Also I'm very happy with your sharpie suggestion! Combined with some regular brush work I've been really pleased with the detail work I'm getting on the yeti! So thanks bro !!

[CREEPINKING]

Originally Posted by Rockwolf

Yeah hard to argue, those tires do indeed look the part! What shocks are you going with? I have read quite a few negative opinions of the axial stock shocks, personally in my rather limited abuse of them they seemed up to the task. but all I know about shocks would easily fit inside a thimble leaving room for a sip of Wild Turkey!

Any word on the BMRC axles? I finally got enuff cash to order some and it says not available or out of stock or some such....grumble grumble....

Also I'm very happy with your sharpie suggestion! Combined with some regular brush work I've been really pleased with the detail work I'm getting on the yeti! So thanks bro !!

I think the stock shocks will do pretty good with some tuning. I have some machined pistons and aluminum shock caps on the way. Gonna rebuild them with the new parts and play around with springs and oil. Just wish I could figure out some metal balls for the top mounts.

Still no word on the BMRC parts. I see they show out of stock on his site now though. His PM's were full so I sent an email about it. Just waiting on a response. The longer I wait the more I start thinking about that Dlux setup though.

Glad the paint pens worked out for you!

[Rockwolf]

ha ha yea Ive been visiting the d lux sight often the last few days, and admit to seriously considering a set myself! Talk about over built...I think they are much stronger than I need...EVER! But when you factor in the obvious cool factor with those beasts it is making it seem more logical every minute!

[CREEPINKING]

The BMRC kit finally showed up.



Makin' it rain with MIP parts.



This Is definitely NOT a bolt on affair. I think damn near every part from spool to hex had to be ground on or reamed out to some extent. The knuckles got some serious dremel love too.

Everything spins smooth and is relatively bind free now and should handle anything short of a nuclear strike. Shes a little bit front end heavy though so I'm thinking some beef tubes might find their way into the rear axle at some point.

Heres a few pics, although I forgot to take any of the important stuff. Like the knuckle clearancing and what not.




Added some oilite bushings while I was in there.









Also got a few goodies from Lunsford. So far I've only installed the steering link and outer hinge pins though.






Got a few parts to hopefully improve the suspension too.

[Brute71]

Very nice build so far!

[Rockwolf]

Man o man that yeti is morphing into the swamp thing! Ha ha. Seriously though it looks great, and it seems like you are addressing every nook and cranny. But dang it was hard to see the thing through the rain of MIP parts😉

Loving every thing you've done so far, I'm actually getting a bit envious...but my turn is coming and I have a stack of STRC parts arriving tomorrow so I'm that much closer to beginning the actual build. I only hope mine turns out half as bad azz as yours

[CREEPINKING]

The shock upgrades worked out and this thing is on rails now. I love it. Still doesn't jump worth a damn but thats just from it being so nose heavy.

Front:
40wt oil
4.95 lbs/in springs

Rear:
30wt oil
1.71 lbs/in springs

[Rockwolf]

Well honestly, now I want to see some video..or at least a few action shots

I see now that d-lux is offering the open front diff option for those giant killers they make! I'm pretty sure I am going that way now.

I think I may be shamelessly stealing your shock upgrade ideas and oil recipe, since your so happy with its handling so far! I hope you don't mind.

[CREEPINKING]

I do have a short, crappy cell phone video from the front yard, but you can only see the Yeti flash by a time or two. The rear MIP shaft gave out on that run so it's only running 2wd for most of it too. I'll see if I can figure out how to post it.

20150215_174604_zpsmq0wujcg.mp4 Video by CREEPINKING | Photobucket

I'll try to do better on the video next time. After watching it for a second time just now, it's horrible.


Honestly, If I knew I didn't have to run glue on wheels and that my selection of gear heads would fit I would rather have the D_lux setup. Even though it's installed I'm not a big fan of the BMRC setup. Steal away on the shock setup, I'm pretty sure I poached it from somebody else's thread along the way anyway.

[Crank]

Originally Posted by CREEPINKING

Honestly, If I knew I didn't have to run glue on wheels and that my selection of gear heads would fit I would rather have the D_lux setup. Even though it's installed I'm not a big fan of the BMRC setup. Steal away on the shock setup, I'm pretty sure I poached it from somebody else's thread along the way anyway.

That set up looks so beefy!
Other than clearance issues what do you not like about it?

[CREEPINKING]

Originally Posted by Crank

That set up looks so beefy!
Other than clearance issues what do you not like about it?

He had to modify a long spool and cut it down to get my order out since I placed it before he marked them out of stock on his site. I think that modified spool is where the problems start. One side of the diff output sits way out from the case and the other side sits real tight. So tight that the hole for the setscrew pin wouldn't line up. I had to ream that hole out slightly and broke two pins trying to get it in. Also no amount of shims in the world would get the slop out of it down at the knuckles. Really just a pain in the ass setup but it should hold up well and replacement parts are easy to come by.

[Rockwolf]

Originally Posted by CREEPINKING

I do have a short, crappy cell phone video from the front yard, but you can only see the Yeti flash by a time or two. The rear MIP shaft gave out on that run so it's only running 2wd for most of it too. I'll see if I can figure out how to post it.

20150215_174604_zpsmq0wujcg.mp4 Video by CREEPINKING | Photobucket

I'll try to do better on the video next time. After watching it for a second time just now, it's horrible.


Honestly, If I knew I didn't have to run glue on wheels and that my selection of gear heads would fit I would rather have the D_lux setup. Even though it's installed I'm not a big fan of the BMRC setup. Steal away on the shock setup, I'm pretty sure I poached it from somebody else's thread along the way anyway.

Well not to kick a dead horse, but yea the video was not the best I've seen...but not the worst either! Thanks for the effort though just the same! Up here in Michigan it's been way frigid so I have not even been running my traxxas snow bashing stampede or slash for fear of freeze snapping parts.(not sure that is even a real term, but it should be!)

So it's cool just seeing some vid of a warm place

Well I am not sure about the issues you brought up, but since I have not bought rims or hubs for this project yet, I'm not opposed to gluing if that's what I have to do! I am a little worried about BMRC though, not only does it sound like he rushed a sub par product out to you, but has so far failed to reply to my email. I understand how life gets in the way from time to time, but sacrificing service and quality for the short term, may have lasting and lingering effects on his business and reputation around here. Not wishing bad on him by any means. Just voicing an opinion, but whatever is going on there, I hope he works through it and comes out well.

[CREEPINKING]

Lol, you should see the video of me trying to hold the phone and work the transmitter. Just a blurry mess of sky, ground, sky, ground and lots of cussing and angry yeti noises. It truly looked like a finding Bigfoot clip.

[Rockwolf]

Originally Posted by CREEPINKING

Lol, you should see the video of me trying to hold the phone and work the transmitter. Just a blurry mess of sky, ground, sky, ground and lots of cussing and angry yeti noises. It truly looked like a finding Bigfoot clip.

Ok you just described about 3/4s of the RC videos I have ever taken when by myself

But honestly those may not be post worthy, but you know you watched that and cracked up at yourself! Well I always did anyway!

[DickyT]

Originally Posted by CREEPINKING

Lol, you should see the video of me trying to hold the phone and work the transmitter. Just a blurry mess of sky, ground, sky, ground and lots of cussing and angry yeti noises. It truly looked like a finding Bigfoot clip.

GoPro + head mount camera follows wherever you look. Close ups and creative angles can get a little uncomfortable though.

A couple years ago when I shot the videos for the UGC Stingray chassis, I came home with scrapes on about 50% of my body, but I got some good video!

[Rockwolf]

Originally Posted by DickyT

GoPro + head mount camera follows wherever you look. Close ups and creative angles can get a little uncomfortable though.

A couple years ago when I shot the videos for the UGC Stingray chassis, I came home with scrapes on about 50% of my body, but I got some good video!

Omg I'm actually laughing out loud imagining my clumsy, too often drunken and nearly retarded ass... sporting a head mounted camera

First off I think it might actually make me look even more ignorant than usual. Then imagining trying to not kill myself while driving my Yeti toward the camera for that cool close up and running my own dumb ass over!

Or purhaps an even more likely scenario is me spilling beer all over myself and the camera as I'm tripping over a tree root, while trying to keep the latest jump in the camera frame..

[DickyT]

Originally Posted by Rockwolf

Omg I'm actually laughing out loud imagining my clumsy, too often drunken and nearly retarded ass... sporting a head mounted camera

First off I think it might actually make me look even more ignorant than usual. Then imagining trying to not kill myself while driving my Yeti toward the camera for that cool close up and running my own dumb ass over!

Or purhaps an even more likely scenario is me spilling beer all over myself and the camera as I'm tripping over a tree root, while trying to keep the latest jump in the camera frame..

Hahahaha! Well at least you wouldn't hurt the camera. Those GoPro's take serious abuse! The worst thing would be the wasted beer... Errrr..... I mean damage to you.

[Rockwolf]

Originally Posted by DickyT

Hahahaha! Well at least you wouldn't hurt the camera. Those GoPro's take serious abuse! The worst thing would be the wasted beer... Errrr..... I mean damage to you.

Nope I agree 100%, if the camera is fine, the wasted beer is definitly the most tragic loss of that scenerio.

So with all that info in hand CK, can I expect some head mounted Go Pro Skunk Ape warmer weather bashing vids any time soon? 😎